Supporting mechanisms



Feb. 14, 1956 Y NOBLE 2,734,710 I SUPPORTING MECHANISMS Filed Aug. 211951 W MM By M

Attorney:

United States Patent SUPPORTING MECHANISMS John Maskill Noble,Dunstable, England, assignor to The English Electric Company Limited,London, England, a British company Application August 21, 1951, SerialNo. 242,947

Claims priority, application Great Britain August 28, 1950 3 Claims.(Cl. 248276) This invention relates to a universal pivot supportmechanism, i. e. a mechanism which supports a device and permits it topivot independently about two mutually perpendicular axes. Suchmechanisms find application in the support of various devices which needto be aimed, but the invention is particularly applicable to the supportof a reflector for a radar aerial.

The universal pivot support mechanism according to the present inventioncomprises a bracket having two pivotal axes, one parallel to aperpendicular through the other, the device to be supported beingmounted on the bracket pivotally about one of these axes, the bracketbeing mounted in a carriage pivotally about the other of these axes.Means are provided to control the orientation of the bracket relative tothe carriage as the carriage moves relative to the base from which it ismounted.

The single figure of the accompanying drawing shows a diagrammatic planview of a mechanism for supporting and turning a reflector dish for aradar aerial. This arrangement embodies the invention in preferred form.

The reflector dish is fixed to a base 11 which is pivotally mountedabout axis 12 in a fork of a bracket 13.

Bracket 13 is mounted so as to pivot about the axis of pin 15, which isjournalled in carriage 14. The axis 12 is parallel to the plane of thefigure, and the axis of pin 15 is perpendicular to this plane. Thepivoting of bracket 13 and the pivoting of base 11 about axis 12therefore together provide, in effect, universal pivoting of reflectordish 10 relative to carriage 14.

Carriage 14 is supported from a base 16 by a pair of identical cranks17, 18, having crank pins 19 and 20 in hearings in carriage 14 andhaving main bearings 21 and 22 in base 16. The spacing of bearings 21and 22 is equal to that of crank pins 19 and 20 so that cranks 17 and 18remain parallel when rotated. A coupling rod 23 pivotally connected toside arms 17a and 18a of cranks 17 and 18 assists in the maintenance ofthis parallelism of the cranks 17 and 18 when they are nearly inalignment.

A chain indicated by dotted line 24 is carried by sprockets of equaldiameter mounted on crank pin 20 and pivot pin 15, secured respectivelyto crank 18 and bracket 13, and this chain thus maintains the axis 25 ofbracket 13 parallel to cranks 17 and 18.

The distance between the axis of pivot pin 15 and the axis 12 is equalto the throw radius of each of the cranks 17 and 18, and the point ofintersection of axes 25 and 12 therefore remains stationary relative tobase 16 as the cranks are turned.

Patented Feb. 14, 1956 A motor indicated diagrammatically at 26, whichmay for example be a geared electric motor, is arranged to rotate crank17 relatively to base 16. Similarly a motor indicated diagrammaticallyat 27, mounted upon the bracket 13, is arranged to rotate base 11 withreflector dish 10 about axis 12 relative to bracket 13. Flexible wiring(not shown) to feed the motor 27 may, of course, be carried along one ofthe cranks 17, 18, along the carriage 14, and along an arm of bracket13.

It will be evident that the arrangement provides supporting means forreflector dish 10 which is capable of turning it to any attitude over arange extending about axis 12 in the plane of the figure and similarlyabout an axis perpendicular to the plane of the figure; and throughoutthese ranges the supporting mechanism does not obstruct the view of thereflector.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letter Patent is:

1. A universal pivot support mechanism comprising a bracket having twopivotal axes, one parallel to a perpendicular through the other, thedevice to be supported being mounted on the bracket pivotally about oneof these axes and the bracket being mounted on a carriage pivotallyabout the other of these axes; the carriage being pivotally mounted on acrank and the crank being pivotally mounted on a base, both aboutpivotal axes parallel to the bracket-carriage pivotal axis; a pair ofsprockets of equal diameter coupled by a chain, one on thebracketcarriage pivotal axis and secured to the bracket and the other onthe carriage-crank pivotal axis and secured to the crank, so that theorientations of the bracket and of the crank relative to the carriageare always equal, and means to ensure that the carriage moves alwaysparallel to a fixed axis in the base.

2. Mechanism according to claim 1 wherein the distance between the twopivotal axes of the bracket is equal to the throw radius of the crank.

3. A universal pivot support mechanism comprising a bracket having twopivotal axes, one parallel to a perpendicular through the other, thedevice to be supported being mounted on the bracket pivotally about oneof these axes and the bracket being mounted on a carriage pivotallyabout the other of these axes; the carriage being pivotally mounted on acrank and the crank being pivotally mounted on a base, both aboutpivotal axes parallel to the bracket-carriage pivotal axis; a pair ofsprockets coupled by a chain, one on the bracket-carriage pivotal axisand secured to the bracket and the other on the carriage-crank pivotalaxis and secured to the crank.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,255,185 Lehmkuhl Feb. 5, 1918 1,711,768 Bausch et a1. May 7, 19291,932,469 Leib et al Oct. 31, 1933 1,982,954 Grobe Dec. 4, 19342,391,795 Oliver Dec. 25, 1945 2,411,472 Slobod Nov. 19, 1946 FOREIGNPATENTS 629,364 Great Britain Sept. 19, 1949

